California House race gets ugly: Slogan theft charges fly

GOP Rep. Jeff Denham and his Democratic election challenger, Josh Harder, are trying to shore up their Central Valley credentials in a key Central Valley House race.

Photo: Michael Macor / SFC

It’s only the second week in August, but the candidates in a key California House race have reached a new low: They’re each accusing the other of stealing their slogans.

It started when Democrat Josh Harder tweeted out a campaign mailer sent out by his November election opponent in the Central Valley’s congressional District 10, GOP Rep. Jeff Denham of Turlock (Stanislaus County), with the slogan, “From the Valley. For the Valley.”

Hmm, said Team Harder. That sounds awfully similar to their slogan, “Of the Valley. For the Valley.”

“The absurdity of this statement is that Denham has lived in Washington, D.C.‘s, suburbs since he was elected to Congress (in 2010) and is certainly not for the valley,” said Harder campaign manager Chelsea Brossard. “ I know that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but I wish Denham would imitate the valley’s values and get voters the health care they deserve.”

Wait a minute, said Denham strategist Dave Gilliard. “Jeff’s slogan goes back several election cycles. Harder is the one doing the copying.”

Perhaps both candidates feel they need to reaffirm their homeboy valley cred in a district that includes Stanislaus County and a slice of San Joaquin County.

Even though Harder’s family goes back five generations in the valley, and he grew up in Turlock and graduated from Modesto High School, Denham dings him as being a San Francisco carpetbagger. That’s a reference to Harder’s work for a venture capital firm in the city for several months after he attended Stanford and Harvard. He also worked for several years after that in Boston and New York, then returned to Turlock in April 2017.

Denham has his own ties outside the valley. He owns a business in Salinas, Denham Plastics, that is his primary source of income, according to federal financial disclosure forms. He lived in Salinas for part of the time he represented a now-redrawn state Senate district in the 2000s that included parts of Monterey and San Benito counties in addition to Stanislaus, Merced and Madera counties.

His campaign signs bill him as a “local farmer,” but he doesn’t actually till his land. He rents it out.

Does this all sound petty? Not to the campaigns. Both camps believe every little advantage matters in a race this tight. This is one of the 11 GOP-held seats in California that Democrats are targeting in the hope of recapturing the House, and one of seven that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Denham won the June primary, but with only 38 percent of the vote. Harder finished second with 17 percent.

A Democratic-sponsored survey of 501 likely voters taken in late June showed each candidate with 48 percent support and only 4 percent of voters expressing no preference. However, the survey found that “21 percent of all voters are still persuadable, either because they are undecided or willing to consider the candidate they currently are not supporting.”

Denham strategist Gilliard was dubious of the poll, noting that “the poll was done in late June. Why are they only releasing now? Also, the low undecided is not believable and tells me it was after push questions.”

He said that “our polling has consistently shown Jeff with a solid lead.”

The Political Punch newsletter publishes every Tuesday and Thursday between noon and 3 p.m. It is produced by the staff of the San Francisco Chronicle and edited by politics editor Trapper Byrne. Email: tbyrne@sfchronicle.com

Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer, covering national and state politics. He has worked at The Chronicle since 2000 and in Bay Area journalism since 1992, when he left the Milwaukee Journal. He is the host of “It’s All Political,” The Chronicle’s political podcast. Catch it here: bit.ly/2LSAUjA

He has won numerous awards and covered everything from fashion to the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killings to two Olympic Games to his own vasectomy — which he discussed on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” after being told he couldn’t say the word “balls” on the air. He regularly appears on Bay Area radio and TV talking politics and is available to entertain at bar mitzvahs and First Communions. He is a graduate of Northwestern University and a proud native of Pittsburgh. Go Steelers!